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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

God Justifies the Sinner

8/24/2023

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Picture
James Tissot, "The Pharisee and the Publican," 1886-94. Public Domain.
Trinity 11 
Luke 18:9-14 
Pastor James Preus 
August 20, 2023 
 
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” This oft-repeated proverb of Jesus summarizes how one goes to heaven or hell. To exalt oneself means to lift oneself up high. No one is more highly exalted than God, who dwells in the highest heaven. Those who exalt themselves seek to ascend to God. Whoever exalts himself to God will be humbled. To be humbled means to be brought down low. You can’t be humbled lower than hell. So, Jesus says that everyone who exalts himself to God will be cast down to hell. But whoever humbles himself, acknowledging that he deserves hell, God will lift-up to heaven. You cannot exalt yourself to heaven. Only God can exalt you. He exalts the humble.  
Jesus teaches us in this parable that those who trust in themselves that they are righteous are those who exalt themselves before God and are therefore cast down to hell. God is righteous. All righteousness comes from God. To be righteous means to be in a right relationship with God, it means to be brought up to God’s presence and to be looked upon favorably by God. The Pharisee was self-righteous. He did not wait on God to exalt him and declare him righteous. Rather, he declared himself righteous, that is, he justified himself. And for this, God condemned him.  
The Pharisee in Jesus’ story went to the temple to pray. He stood separate from the people, fitting with his title Pharisee, which means “one who is separated.” He then thanked God in his prayer, but his thanksgiving was only a pretense to boast in himself. He says, “God, I thank you, because I am not like other men.” He is not thanking God for making him different than other men. It could have been a good prayer if the Pharisee had said, “God, I thank you that you have kept me from sin and unbelief, which has captured other men.” But no, the Pharisee only brags about his own actions. “I am not like other men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, even as this tax collector.” Fitting with those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, the Pharisee despises others, even accusing the tax collector of extortion, unrighteousness, and adultery. Think of it, the Pharisee stands in the same building where the sacrifice of atonement for sins is offered, and he points out to God another man’s sin!  
Yet, this is the manner of all the self-righteous. Because if you will justify yourself, then you must condemn others! Why? Because no one will be justified by works of the Law (Galatians 2:16). If you ignore the works of everyone but yourself, and only consider your own works according to God’s Law, then you will only see your own sin (Romans 3:20). You will only see how you have failed to love God and your neighbor as you ought. But, if you can drag your neighbor into the mix, then you can convince yourself that you are more righteous than your neighbor. And so, slandering one’s neighbor in his heart has been the mode of justifying oneself since the fall into sin!  
Check if you have done this? When is the last time you justified your own actions by comparing them to another? “Oh, I may have looked at women with lust, but I’ve never cheated on my wife like others I know.” “Sure, I’ve lost my temper at my wife and children, but I’ve never stuck them, like the sleaze with his mugshot in the paper.” “I may be cheap at times, but I’ve never stolen like others.” “I’ve hated my neighbor in my heart, but I’m not a murderer.” And so, the self-righteous justify themselves in their own hearts, seeking to lift themselves up to God by stepping on the necks of their neighbors. If you look at the Pharisee closely, you might find yourself looking back from the mirror.  
Then the Pharisee tries to inflate his righteousness by bragging about his works. “I fast twice a week.” That’s good, but what good is fasting if not to learn that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God? And God’s Word says that no one living is righteous (Psalm 143:2; Ecc 7:20). “I tithe all that I get,” he brags. Very good. You gave back a tenth of all that God has given you. But have you observed the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness? (Matthew 23:23) The Pharisee’s boasts may be able to fool those around him and even his own conscience, but they cannot fool God, who looks on the secret heart.  
The tax collector demonstrates to us how one is exalted to heaven by being humble. He, like the Pharisee, stands by himself, but for a different reason. The tax collector feels unworthy to stand in the congregation of the righteous. He cannot even lift his eyes up to heaven, because he is ashamed. He beats his breast, showing that he recognizes that the source of his sin and shame comes out of his own heart, a point the Pharisee completely misses. By striking his breast, he behaves like the crowd leaving the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion, lamenting the great injustice that has been done, for which they only can blame themselves (Luke 23:48). It is as if the tax collector is saying, “On me, me only is the guilt. It is all my fault.” And that is what he says, “Have mercy on me, the sinner.” Our English translation has him say, “a sinner,” but it is better translated as the sinner. He does not do as the Pharisee and we so often do, and point out the sins of others. He doesn’t say, “Yes, I’m a sinner, but everyone’s a sinner, so it’s not that bad.” No, he doesn’t bring up anyone else’s sin but his own, and confesses himself to be the guilty sinner. He doesn’t try to distance himself from his actions, but acknowledges that they came from his own heart. No, the tax collector does not exalt himself to heaven declaring himself righteous before God. Far from it. Rather, he drops himself into the depths of woe. To the world this seems counterproductive. Yet, we must remember what Scripture says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15)  
Yet, it is not his acknowledgment of his own sin that ultimately lifts the tax collector out of the pit of hell into the heavenly places. The word the tax collector uses for mercy reveals his steadfast faith in Christ his Savior, which justifies him. The word the tax collector used for mercy is perhaps best understood as “make atonement for me.” It can also be translated as “be propitiated to me” or “be expiated toward me,” but few people understand what those words mean. I think you are all familiar with the word atone. Atone means to cover a sin or wash it away. It means to make amends. The Pharisee and the tax collector are standing in the temple, where each morning and evening a lamb is sacrificed to make atonement for the sins of the people. The Pharisee points out the sins of others for which God makes atonement, to boost himself. The tax collector points to the sacrifice of atonement and prays to God, “Let that atonement be for me, yes, even for me!” 
Of course, it isn’t the lamb sacrificed in the temple which makes atonement for any sins, but the Lamb of God to whom these lambs point, who makes atonement for the sins of the whole world. The Apostle writes of Christ in Hebrews chapter 2, “Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make atonement (or propitiation) for the sins of the people.” (vs. 17) And St. John writes in his first epistle, chapter 2, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” And by propitiation, what he means is atonement. Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, has made atonement for the sins of the whole world. He has paid for them with His blood. He has washed them away, covered them, made amends for them, however else you want to explain atonement, they are gone! And this tax collector in fervent faith prays that that payment for sins would be applied to him personally. And by the fact that Jesus says that he rather than the Pharisee went down to his house justified proves that God answered his prayer.  
And here we must make a clarification about humility and pride. The world turns Jesus’ words on their head and claims that if you say that Jesus is the only way to salvation, then you are prideful. The world says that it is arrogant to say that you know the way to heaven and that there is no other way. But it is not arrogant to say that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). It is not prideful to say that you are certain that you stand righteous before God for the sake of Jesus’ innocent shed blood, suffering, and death. You are not boasting in yourself when you confess that you know you will go to heaven when you die, because Christ has prepared a place for you. Rather, Scripture exhorts us, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17; Gal. 6:14) And we should never stop boasting in the cross of Jesus Christ, which alone grants full forgiveness of sins and makes us righteous before our God. We do not exalt ourselves by standing on God’s Word, rather those who claim that we cannot know are the ones who exalt themselves above God’s Word.  
Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re arrogant or prideful for standing on the promises God makes to you in Holy Scripture, when He says that Jesus has washed away all your sins, when He says that your Baptism has clothed you in Christ and has indeed saved you (Gal. 3:26; 1 Peter 3:21), when you confess that Christ indeed feeds you His body and blood in His Sacrament for the forgiveness of your sins. This is not arrogance or pride, but humbly receiving from your gracious Father’s hand in heaven.  
Jesus says that the tax collector went down to his house justified. Do you think he felt righteous? He didn’t look righteous. Jesus doesn’t tell us about any good works he did? Presumably, he bore fruits of repentance as Zacchaeus did, who gave four-times more to anyone he defrauded and shared his wealth with the poor (Luke 19). And we’ve heard that St. Paul worked harder than any other apostle after being saved by grace (1 Cor. 15). But we’ve heard of no good works from this tax collector, just that he went down to his house justified. Although good works indeed follow saving faith, no works done by this tax collector contributed to his justification before God. So, I ask you. Did this tax collector feel righteous?  
It doesn’t matter. Probably not. That’s not the point. The Pharisee sure felt righteous, but that didn’t do him any good. He looked righteous too, but that did nothing for him before God’s throne. It is not how you look or feel that determines whether you are righteous before God. It depends entirely on your faith in Jesus Christ, who made atonement for your sins. You may be the worst sinner in this congregation. You may feel like the worst sinner here. Your shame may be welling up in your heart, so that you feel the compulsion to beat your chest until it’s numb. But you should believe for Christ’s sake that your sins are covered. You should believe that God has clothed you with a garment of salvation and a robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). You should believe that though your sins are like scarlet, Christ has washed them clean in His own blood (Isaiah 1:18). You should believe that God has made atonement for you through the death of Christ Jesus your Savior. And you should humbly receive this promise, because God has promised it to you. Amen.  
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The Infinite Is Capable of the Finite

8/4/2023

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Trinity 7 
Mark 8:1-9 
Pastor James Preus 
Trinity Lutheran Church 
July 23, 2023 
 
Seven loaves of bread are not enough to feed 4,000 men! These seven loaves of bread were probably intended to feed Jesus and His twelve disciples. They wouldn’t be able to feed many more. There is only a finite amount of bread. Once it is eaten, it’s gone! Yet, with just seven loaves of bread, Jesus not only feeds 4,000 men, plus their wives and children (Matthew 15:38), but they ate until they were satisfied. What’s more, they filled seven baskets full of leftover bread! And these weren’t small baskets. Each could hold fifty loaves! This word for basket is used in Acts 9, when it says that they lowered St. Paul from the city wall in a basket. So, a grown man could fit in each of these seven baskets. So, with those seven hampers full of bread left over, they had way more food than they started with, and could have fed many more people!  
How is this possible? Seven is a finite number. The more bread that is eaten, the less there is. Seven loaves cannot become seven hampers full of bread. Yet, with Jesus that is exactly what is done. Jesus is God. He can satisfy the needs of every living thing (Psalm 145:16). And what is more, it is Christ’s fervent desire to satisfy our needs! Jesus said to His disciples, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” The word Jesus uses here for compassion comes from the word for inward parts. It means to have deep sympathy. We get the sense that Jesus feels the hunger in their stomachs and He is not satisfied until they are satisfied. So much does He care for His creation.  
And we could end the sermon there. God cares for you; don’t worry. He is both able and willing to provide for you as He does for every living creature on earth. So, give thanks to Him, be generous, and seek first the kingdom of God. Yet, it is the kingdom of God, which this parable teaches us so much about. The Holy Spirit didn’t cause this story to be written simply to teach us that God cares for our bodily needs. He caused this to be written, so that you would see how Christ provides for the Kingdom of God and for you as a citizen of it! 
St. Paul tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)! By death he means eternal hell, as Jesus teaches us (Matthew 25:41; 13:41; Mark 9:48). And so, we know that God sent His Son to take on our human flesh and suffer and die in our place on the cross to make satisfaction for our sins. But, wait a minute. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All deserve the eternal fiery death of hell. Yet, God sent one man, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for the sins of all. Well, if billions and billions of people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, yet God sent one man to suffer and die, how is it that the sins of all are paid for? Wouldn’t He just make satisfaction for one of those sinners? It's like the seven loaves and the 4,000 all over again. Seven loaves cannot feed 4,000 men and their families. And one man cannot make atonement for the sins of countless people!  
Yet, He does! St. John writes in the second chapter of his first epistle, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) Propitiation means that He has made satisfaction for our sins. Christ Jesus, by His death, has made satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Our debt has been paid! That is why He can give us eternal life as a free gift from God (Romans 6:23).  
And this is exactly what this story teaches us. Numbers in Scripture often have a special meaning. Why did Mark write 4,000 when we’re told there were also women and children, making the number much higher? There is significance in the number 4,000. Four is the number of the earth with its four winds: North, South, East, and West. 1,000 is the number of completeness. By feeding bread to the 4,000, Jesus foreshadows that He will provide the Bread of Life for all people. Christ Jesus is the Bread of Life come down from heaven, who gives Himself to be feasted on through faith. We feast on this Bread of Life when we believe that God is reconciled to us for the sake of Christ’s suffering and death.  
Seven is a holy number. Three is the number of the Holy Trinity. Four is the number of the earth. So, seven is God plus the earth, the number of the Church. Seven also symbolizes completeness. God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. By using seven loaves of bread, Christ shows that He will completely satisfy His Church with every spiritual need! And by the fact that seven large baskets of bread were left over, He shows that His Church will never run out of His grace to forgive, strengthen, and save.  
Although Christ is just one man, His blood provides an endless flow of forgiveness. Although Christ is just one man, His body opens the grave for all bodies. How? Because He is God. His human nature does not limit His divine nature. Rather, His divinity empowers His humanity.  
The finite is not capable of the infinite, said a smart man named John Calvin. Finite means to have bounds and limits. Finite can be measured. A twenty-ounce bottle can fit twenty ounces of water in it. It can’t fit 1,000 gallons. Once it surpasses twenty-ounces of liquid, it begins to overflow. Infinite means to have no bounds or limits. Infinite cannot be measured. “The finite is not capable of the infinite” is a logical statement, because an immeasurable amount of liquid cannot fit in a measurable container.  
So, Calvin reasoned that Christ’s body and blood could not be present in the Lord’s Supper, because Jesus’ human body is finite, as all human bodies are. Jesus’ body can be measured and is bound by limits, just as all human bodies are. And, as with all human bodies, Jesus’ body can only be in one place at one time. So, He couldn’t possibly be on countless altars and in countless mouths while He is up in heaven. Nor could His blood be separated from His body while it still flows in His veins. So, Calvin thought.  
And perhaps Calvin is right that the finite is not capable of the infinite. However, the infinite is certainly capable of the finite. You see, when we speak of Christ, who is true God and true man, we do not speak of His limits according to His human nature. Rather, we speak of His limitless power according to His divine nature. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 3 that He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” So, Christ, who is true man and true God in one person, can in human flesh do everything God can do. So, if He wants His body to be present at many altars at one time and to be able to be consumed by the faithful without tearing His body apart, He can do it. And we know that He wants to do this impossible thing, because He stated in no uncertain terms, “This is my body; this is my blood.”  
So, just as Jesus was able to satisfy the hunger of 4,000 men, plus women and children, with just seven loaves of bread and have even more left over, and just as He was able to make satisfaction for the sins of billions and billions of people with His one body on the cross, so is Christ able to feed His entire Church on earth His true body and blood in the Sacrament. The bread and wine used over the past 2,000 years in countless observances of the Lord’s Supper would measure in millions of pounds and gallons of bread and wine, yet as the seven baskets were filled after everyone was satisfied, so Christ still has more to offer us, to sustain us on our journey here on earth. When Christ gave thanks and broke bread in the wilderness, providing an abundant meal with much left over, He foreshadowed that He would provide an abundant meal for His Church when He gave thanks and broke bread on the night in which He was betrayed.  
This morning Brexley, Kolter, and Walker were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It was only a little bit of water used, not even enough for a bath. It couldn’t have cleaned very much dirt off their bodies and is probably already dried off. Yet, here again we must remember that the Infinite is capable of the finite. That water poured on those three children was not just plain water, but it was the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word. God works through His Word. So, as God is infinitely powerful, His Word is infinitely powerful. St. Peter writes in 1 Peter 3, “Baptism now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (v.21) So, the appeal to God for a good conscience does not dry off as the water does. The infinite has been joined to the finite. We don’t consider the weakness of the water, but the boundless power of God’s Word.  
Through Baptism, God washed those little children clean in the blood of Christ and filled them with His Holy Spirit. He granted them a new birth and clothed them in Christ’s righteousness. As long as they believe this promise from Holy Scripture, they possess it.  
The crowd stayed with Jesus three days, so that they had no food even for their long journeys home. Jesus wasn’t the only one to notice this lack of food. Surely, each of those 4,000 men was aware that his bag was empty and he had nothing left to feed his kids. Surely wives were nudging their husbands saying, “Benjamin, we’re out of bread.” And apparently, his reply was, “Where else are we to go. This man has the words of eternal life.” And so, from this crowd, we learn what our greatest need is. We are finite creatures. And we are obsessed with the finite, especially when they are running out. We’re concerned about paying for food and clothing and our homes and health care and other needs of the body, which will fade away. But we neglect our need for Christ’s Words, which will never pass away, even if the heavens and earth pass away. We must remember that we worship the Infinite God. He can provide for your bodily needs and He always does. He feels your hunger. He is compassionate. Yet, He desires to satisfy a much greater need. He desires to grant you food for your soul, so that you may live eternally.  
Your sins are your greatest problem. They are rooted deep into your flesh, so that your old self continues to strive toward wickedness as long as you live. And your sins merit you eternal damnation in hell! And your sins combat your faith, striving to pull you away from Christ. Your bodily hunger is of zero importance next to your need for the Bread of Life from heaven! If you do not feast on Christ in faith, then you will perish eternally in hell! The crowd spent three days with Jesus, neglecting their need for food for their bodies, yet most can’t get through a fifteen-minute sermon without thinking about what they’re going to have for lunch.  
You have a tremendous spiritual need, yet not an infinite one. The Infinite is capable of the finite. Christ can and does satisfy your spiritual need, so that you may have certainty of eternal life. So, let us to not neglect this need, but come to Him who satisfies for eternity. Amen.  
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    Rev. James Preus

    Rev. Preus is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA. These are audio and text of the sermons he preaches at Trinity according to the Historical Lectionary. 
    You can listen to sermons in podcast format at 
    [email protected]. 

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